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United States Patent |
5,030,130
|
Natsume
|
July 9, 1991
|
Connector
Abstract
A connector comprises a male connector housing and a female connector
housing. The female housing is provided with a guide wall for guiding the
male housing thereinto. The guide wall is formed of a plurality of wall
members, each of which is connected at lateral ends thereof to the other
walls. The wall members recede rearwardly from both lateral ends toward an
axial center line thereof.
Inventors:
|
Natsume; Yoshihisa (Kosai, JP)
|
Assignee:
|
Yazaki Corporation (Tokyo, JP)
|
Appl. No.:
|
518633 |
Filed:
|
May 2, 1990 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
| Dec 16, 1987[JP] | 62-189970 |
Current U.S. Class: |
439/374 |
Intern'l Class: |
H01R 013/629 |
Field of Search: |
439/374,377,375,376
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
3768066 | Oct., 1973 | Mattingly, Jr. et al. | 439/377.
|
4350401 | Sep., 1982 | Allen et al. | 439/374.
|
4509815 | Apr., 1985 | Kischer et al. | 439/377.
|
4572602 | Feb., 1986 | Rupnik | 439/374.
|
4579408 | Apr., 1986 | Sasaki | 439/374.
|
Foreign Patent Documents |
0182065 | May., 1986 | EP | 439/374.
|
58-73575 | May., 1983 | JP.
| |
Primary Examiner: Paumen; Gary F.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Armstrong, Nikaido, Marmelstein, Kubovcik, & Murray
Parent Case Text
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 284,879 filed Dec. 15, 1988
now abandoned.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A connector assembly comprising a male connector housing and a female
connector housing into which said male conector housing is inserted in
mating relation, said female connector housing having a guide wall forming
a space through which said male connector housing is inserted in one
direction, wherein said guide wall is formed of a plurality of wall
members connected at lateral ends thereof to each other and at least one
of said wall members continuously recedes in said direction from both
lateral ends to an axial center line thereof.
2. A connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said
wall members is provided with a recess on an inner surface thereof which
extends over a substantial area of said inner surface between said ends of
said wall member.
3. A connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein at least wo opposed
wall members of said wall members have arcuate surfaces receding in said
direction.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for facilitating fitting of a
male connector housing into a female connector housing and
moreparticularly to a shape of the guide wall of the female connector
housing for guiding the male connector thereinto.
2. Description of Prior Art
A connector housing is commonly provided with a guide wall for guiding
electrical contacting pins or male terminals into female terminals to
prevent deformation of the contacting terminals due to a force
unexpectedly applied thereto when inserting the male connector housing
into the female connector housing. FIG. 5 illustrates an example of one
such connector housing having a guide wall.
Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown a male connector housing 2, which is to
be inserted into a female connector housing 1. A rib 13 is provided to
prevent a guide wall 11 from deflecting into the inner side of the housing
as a result of the injection molding process. The rib 13 fits to a groove
23 of the male connector housing 2 when the female connector housing 1
receives the male connector housing 2.
Conventionally connector housings such as those shown in FIG. 5 have been
used in order to avoid exerting any deforming force on the connector
housing even though it is more effective not to have a gap between the
inner surface of the guide wall 11b and the outer wall of the male
connector housing.
On the other hand, frictional forces developed between the wall surfaces of
the male and female connector housings often causes excessive drag when
drawing the male connector housing out of the female connector housing as
well as an excessive resistive force against the insertion force applied
to insert the male connector housing into the female connector housing.
Japanese Utility Model KOKAI No. 58-73575 discloses one type of connectors
for overcoming the aforementioned drawback as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The
connector is provided with a shallow recess 14 except in proximity to the
corner portions 12. The area spanned by the recess 14 is subject to the
largest deforming force and is reinforced with a rib 13 to reduce the
frictional force acting on the portion 14 to facilitate smooth fitting of
the connectors.
However, the rib 13 provided on the connector shown in FIG. 6 is not strong
enough to effectively prevent deflection of the guide wall 11 into the
inner space defined by the guide wall, as shown by phantom lines in FIG.
7. Deflection of the guide wall 11 in this manner causes the inwardly
projecting portion of the wall 11 to push or press against the fitting
surface of the male connector 2, thereby causing difficulty in fitting the
male connector housing into the female connector housing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus the present invention was made to overcome the aforementioned
drawbacks and provides a connector which allows smooth insertion of the
male connector housing into the female connector housing and good fitting
relation therebetween even if part of the guide wall deflects into the
inner space defined by the guide wall.
To accomplish the aforementioned object, a connector according to the
present invention is arranged in such a way that at least one of the wall
members increasingly recedes rearwardly with respect to an engagement
direction from both lateral ends toward an axial center line thereof.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the
drawings in which;
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a connector housing
according to the present invention;
FIGS. 2a and b show male and female connector housings being fitted to each
other. FIG. 2a is a perspective view of the connectors when fitting is
just started, and FIG. 2b is a perspective view of the connectors when the
male connector housing is moved further into the female connector housing;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the connector
according to the invention;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a female connector housing of a third
embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a prior art male and female connector
housing;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view for showing another prior art connector
housing; and
FIG. 7 is a top view of FIG. 6.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT
The present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 1 and
FIG. 2. Male and female conductive terminals are not shown but are
retained within the male and female connector housings in these figures
for electrical connection therebetween when the male and female connector
housings are fit to each other. In FIG. 1, a fitting surface 11a of a
guide wall 11 of the female connector housing 1 recedes in an arcuate
curve with respect to an engagement direction from both lateral ends
toward an axial center line thereof. This is so formed for the reason
described later. FIG. 2 illustrates the male connector housing 2 fitting
into the female connector housing 1. The female connector housing 1 is
formed through, for example, injection molding, during which the guide
wall deflects due to shrinkage. According to the present invention, this
shrinkage will not disturb fitting relation between the male and female
connector housings 1, 2 for the following reason.
The male connector housing 2 is inserted into the female connector so that
they fit to each other as shown in FIG. 2a. As shown in FIG. 6, the guide
wall is formed thick enough at the respective corner portions 12 so that
the corner portions 12 will not deflect inwardly. Thus the male connector
housing 2 can be inserted without difficulty at an early stage of
insertion. At this time, the male connector housing 2 is in contact with
the female connector housing 1 at contacting points A. Since the guide
wall 11 is progressively deflected inwardly at the fitting surface 11a
with increasing distance from the corner portions 12, the contacting point
A moves gradually toward the middle of the fitting surface 11a in the
direction of B as the male connector housing is pushed further into the
guide wall 11. It should be noted that the fitting begins in the vicinity
of the corner portions 12 of the female connector housing 1 where
deflection is not significant. Thus the male connector housing 2 acts like
a wedge so that the male connector housing 2 will wedge away the inwardly
deflected wall 11a in the direction of R thereby gradually correcting the
deflection. Therefore the movement of the male connector housing 2 into
the female connector housing 1 will not be disturbed by the deflection of
the guide wall caused during forming by injection molding.
FIG. 3 illustrates a second embodiment of the invention in which a shallow
recess 14 is formed at portions except for the corner portions 12 of the
guide wall 11. In this embodiment, the male connector housing first
engages with the guide wall 11 at stepped portions 15 in fitting relation
when it is inserted into the female connector housing. Then the male
connector housing is further moved into the space defined by the guide
wall but will contact with an fitting surface 11b except for portions in
which the shallow recess is provided. The shallow recess 14 serves to
eliminate the friction otherwise developed between the male connector
housing, thus permitting ease of connector fitting.
The arcuate shape of the edge 11a of the fitting surface 11b of the guide
wall 11 is only exemplary and may be of other shapes e.g., straight lines
that forms a guide wall progressively short in height with increasing
distance from the corner portions.
FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of the invention in which the height of the
four guide walls in relatively high. With this type of guide wall, the
guide wall 11 is formed to recede increasingly rearwardly with increasing
distance from the corner portions 12. Additionally, a shallow recess as
shown in FIG. 3 may be formed on the inner wall surface 11a of the guide
wall 11. The present invention is particularly advantageous when applied
to connector housings having a high, thin, and long guide wall in which a
large deflection is developed. Applications include not only male-female
connectors but also connectors in an electrical connection box or junction
box used in wiring for vehicles.
According to the present invention thus far described, the guide wall of a
connector housing is formed to recede rearwardly with respect to an
engagement direction from both ends toward an axial center line thereof,
thus permitting fitting of the male connector housing into the female
connector housing without being disturbed by a guide wall which is
deflected inwardly. Also the present invention eliminates the necessity of
a deflection-preventing rib, thereby allowing more compact sizes of
connectors and contributing, together with the progressively shorter wall,
to connectors of lighter weight.
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